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Batu Caves is located in the district of Gombak, thirteen kilometers north of Kuala Lumpur and is basically a group of limestone caves composed of three main caves and few smaller one. The Batu Caves is said to have formed 400 million years ago and it is the sacred worship site for the Malaysian Hindu.
The most prominent attraction of the Batu Caves is none other than the gigantic statue of Lord Murugan painted in gleaming golden color which is located at the Sri Subramaniar Temple at the foot of Batu Caves. This tallest Hindu deity statue in Malaysia is also the tallest figurine in Malaysia with its height of 42.7m. In addition, it also recorded as the second tallest Hindu deity statue in the world subsequent to the Kailashnath Mahadev statue in Nepal. The statue was constructed starting in 2004 and took three years for its completion. At a costly expense of approximately RM2.5 million Ringgit Malaysia used up on 1,550 cubic meters of Concrete, 250 tons of Steel Bars, and 300 liters of gold paint, plus 15 specialized sculptors all the way from India, it is clearly seen that how significant this divinity sculpture meant to the local Hindu devotees.
The biggest cave is the Cathedral Cave, also known as the Temple Cave because of its intricate Hindu shrines inside. The Cathedral Cave ceiling reaches up to 100m and takes a total of 272 steps to get to there.
There is another statue of deity which is the Hanuman, standing at 15m height and is located on the way to Ramayana Cave. Hanuman is the righteous ape- resemblance disciple to Lord Rama (the seventh avatar of Vishnu).Visitors may find the chronicle of Hanuman along the walls of the Ramayana Cave.
Other than that, there are more paintings and Hindu statues to be seen at in the two cave temples at the base of the hill, namely the Art Gallery Cave and the Museum Cave.At the base of the hill are two more cave temples, Art Gallery Cave and Museum Cave, both of which are full of Hindu statues and paintings.
While the Dark Cave which is situated below the Cathedral Cave is a fauna sanctuary ranging to quite a number of species. Examples are like the mischievous Macaque monkey, Rousettus fruit bats (dog-faced fruit bats), Eonycteris bats, and also the rarely seen Liphistius batuensis (one of the species of trapdoor spider).
The Batu Caves is also a place where the yearly Thaipusam Event is held, attracting both the local and overseas devotees from countries like India, Singapore and Australia. During this particular celebration, even the hotels nearby will be fully booked and road congestion may happen due to the soaring volume of visitors. In 2007, more than 1.5 million pilgrims made their trips to the Batu Caves, in celebration of the Thaipusam, which was really a very huge crowd.